discussion Do you think there will ever be true AAA porn games?

[kodex]

The only real meaning for the term "AAA games" is the budget. Not the quality, not the size, not even the price tag for the finished product. And considering that big budgets require extensive market analysis and a lot of countries have laws against adult content, no big budget company will take the risk of allocating 100m dollars and not be able to sell in 80% of the countries. So no, I don't think a real AAA adult game will be produced in the foreseeable future.
However, games with adult themes might work if their main focus is not sexual (like Witcher, Cyberpunk, BG3). Those are a different story.

 

[Aster Ater]

I think that Baldur's gate or CP2077 really are the limit when it comes to high budget games and they're both made by what amount to overgrown indies rather than blockbuster studios. There's a lot of money at stake so as budgets go up risk appetite goes down. Hot coffee was removed from GTA: SA before release and it still managed to cause them headaches with the ratings bodies.
I do think we're seeing an increase in budgets at the top end of the market, with patrons and steam eroding the importance of the forces that pushed adult games down. Theres a limit to that though, even in Japan where there's a thriving market you'll never see a Nintendo or Sony going anywhere near it.

 

[rocketsheep]

There are forces that make AAA porn games difficult. For example, in Germany the rules for porn games are so strict and so country-specific, that Steam has decided to just not bother dealing with them. They force game developers to fill in a form to verify that they don't fall under the German rules for porn games. If the developers can't do that, or if they don't bother, then the game is not available in Germany even if it's plain Solitaire. Most porn games on Steam cannot be bought in Germany and their store pages cannot even be viewed. (These Steam pages behave pretty much like Members+ pages on this site when you don't have Members+.) Some are available in censored versions; then you can usually (not always) get an uncensor patch from elsewhere (usually free) and apply it to the Steam version.

Nevertheless, I am confident that we will be getting AAA porn games in the not so remote future. The developers just need to provide the censored versions by default, with a default experience suitable for everyone, and a satisfactory game loop. And then ensure that you can uncensor the game easily but in a way that cannot be found by accident. They just need to find a way to do this with plausible deniability for their intent. One way of ensuring this is by using AI to make the game content infinitely variable. Allow players to chat with NPCs, which basically means talking directly to the AI model. Then this just needs to be open to well known command injection attacks.

Games like House Party, which make only limited sense in the censored version, but are still reasonable games, are basically sold on this concept in Germany right now. The only problem is that the porn content has been completely excised from the censored version and needs to be re-added explicitly with a patch or mod. This method doesn't really work with Nintendo Switch and other closed systems where you can't install random third-party mods and patches. But the AI injection method would work even for a game on Switch.

 

[DannyO24]

Probably not it would be too problematic and AAA games have too many problems as it is.

 

[pb8-1s]

The problem is that AAA studios can be AAA because of their budget. Which they get from advertisers and from game sales. Advertisers do not want to be included in/associated with that type of game, and the userbase for these games are not big enough to make AAA money.

 

[entry1]

Personally I'm surprised none of the big holdings in porn haven't tried anything in games yet given the amount of money in this sector.

 

[Elezghar]

When you talk about AAA porn games, are you referring to some pre-funded AVN project with huge budgets or a 'regular' game with porn integrated in the story/world? For example an open world game like GTA or Skyrim but there are also porn elements?

Either way I have a hard time seing the now enormous budgets AAA games have novadays being invested into games containing porn. The risk is just too high even though there for sure is an entire untapped market there. Some indie devs with more modest budgets is my guess if anyone gives it a try.

 

[lanny]

Sadly no. Not any studio that exist as of now anyway. I do think there might pop up more and more game developers for these types of games, and the quality is surely out there for great stories. See Being A DIK for example. But a game that costs a ton of money? I just don't see it., sadly. But I truly hope to be proven wrong.

 

[Magooo]

I don't need AAA porn games. I don't even like professional "AAA" porn videos. The more professional they become, the clean and boring they are.

 

[MattShizzle]

Most likely way would be if it was a major porn studio had it made rather than a game one. Though I seem to remember Playboy attempted to do so some years back and it was terrible.

 

[eatmybutt]

Not enough potential sales, risk of negative optics and dennouncement by political and religious groups, and internal clashing.

 

[sitrukpc]

No. I do believe that some games do have a AA budget that are sexual but not porn. It is going to be mostly 2d games for porn games.

 

[jimmecimme]

Personally, I think there's never gonna be a "AAA" porn game. The production quality will definitely improve but I can't imagine living in a world where a porn game has the same quality as RDR2 sadly.

 

[goons]

I think a very high-quality game with porn could be made at AAA quality, though it would have to be by an individual or small team. there is money to be made in the porn game industry, I just I don't think it's the tens of millions AAA games need.
Karryn's Prison looks to have made 2-3 million from Steam sales alone and that was still an RPG maker game. It has another 48 thousand sales on DLsite and they have subscribers too.

 

[goons]

Now that I think about it, technically you can just mod AAA games into porn games, it's not official but your still playing a AAA game as a porn game

 

[User_143196]

Eventually yes. All it takes is for one porn game to make it big and you will get funding for more games.

 

[Seo In-guk]

What is triple A, the only thing that is typed for the stack of a control: v

 

[SirBanana]

I think the closest we have gotten in terms of a AAA porn game so far would be on the lines of Subverse, but the issue is if it goes any further then it starts to become more formulaic and less people making games because they want to make games they would want to play.

 

[Gornpa]

Now that I think about it, technically you can just mod AAA games into porn games, it's not official but your still playing a AAA game as a porn game

I'm hoping for a 10/10 AAA game that has great modding capabilities that allows for tons of varying content to be added. Something that would be easy as well. I've tried modding Skyrim, Fallouts 3, NV, and 4, and probably some other things but it becomes a hassle trying to make something peak. I try doing that shit for months at a time and give up because it's such a pain trying to get things as I want. yknow?

 

[UStinky]

no, not enough player base to actually let it be one